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Hamas thrown out of Saudi Arabia and approaches Taliban Israel today

2021-08-20T12:18:05.809Z


Riyadh's troubled past as a supporter and financier of terrorism haunts it • This week, Saudi court jailed 64 Hamas members, some for long prison terms • But that did not impress President Joe Biden, who is about to release confidential parts of the September 11 attacks and the connection Saudi Arabia to them • And Hamas? He warmed his relations with the Taliban this week, and congratulated his senior officials on the occupation of Afghanistan


A scenario in which a Saudi court sends dozens of Hamas operatives to prison, who have been and operated in the kingdom, did not seem nearly imaginary many years ago.

But the seemingly unbelievable week has taken place: the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, once an economic haven for al-Qaeda and Hamas operatives, has imposed prison sentences, some of them heavy, on 64 senior members of the organization and its operatives in Saudi Arabia.

They were convicted of money laundering and smuggling into Hamas' military wing in the Gaza Strip.

Only two decades ago, Saudi Arabia and terrorism still flourished. 60 percent of Hamas' budget at the beginning of the millennium came from Saudi sources. Millions of shekels came as "compensation" or "pensions" to the families of the suicide bombers. The GSS files still contain statements by senior Saudi officials from the second intifada, thanks to the suicide bombings: Sheikh Saleh 'Abd al-Aziz, for example, the Saudi Minister of Islamic Affairs, who on the eve of Hamas' suicide bombing in Rishon Lezion said Palestinian armed jihad is allowed, or Saudi ambassador In the UK, Azei Katzibi, who published a song of praise for suicide bombers.

Even a decade ago, Saudi Arabia still had ambivalent relations with terrorism.

In December 2010, the WikiLeaks website published a memo written by Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State at the time. Clinton claimed there that Saudi Arabia, one of the main US allies, is a major source of terrorist funding, and that terrorist organizations "raise millions of dollars a year from sources "Saudis, often during the pilgrimage, the Hajj."

She noted that "elements from Saudi Arabia are a major source of funding for Sunni terrorist organizations around the world."

That juicy exposure did not knock anyone off the chair, mainly because years earlier, US-Saudi relations had been haunted by rumors and hints about the Saudi connection to the 9/11 attacks (planned, as I recall, by al-Qaeda in Afghanistan). 15 of the 19 hijackers In these attacks, which these days are literally marking 20 years since they took place, there were, as is well known, Saudi citizens.

But now, perhaps precisely because of the problematic past, and also because Iran has now become the main backbone of global terrorism, the Saudis are trying to act differently. Sixty-four Hamas operatives living in Saudi Arabia were sentenced to eight months to 22 years in prison after the Saudis exposed their money laundering and smuggling mechanism to Hamas-Gaza. The mechanism was assisted by Turkish exchange companies. Among those sentenced to 15 years in prison was a senior Hamas figure, 80-year-old Dr. Muhammad al-Khodri, who headed a Hamas delegation to Saudi Arabia for 30 years.

The Saudis did not bother to respond to public amnesty expressed hope Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh abroad. The attempts by Hamas to operate in Saudi Mohammed Dahlan, were cold shoulder.


Despite the change in the conduct Saudis regarding Hamas and terrorism in general, their dark past continues to haunt them, And Biden's US, unlike Trump's, is in no hurry to forgive them.

Three years after Saudi Arabia declared Hamas a terrorist organization, this week Biden poured cold water on the Saudis' overt efforts to improve their way and gain its trust.


Biden said he "welcomes his Justice Department decision to re - examine the documents relating to the twin attacks, which the government has previously kept confidential."

The publication of the confidential part is supposed to provide, even a partial answer, the question of whether and to what extent the Saudis were involved in the attacks.

The White House has taken this step under pressure from the families of the victims of the 9/11 attacks.

Al-Thomayri riddle

Biden's statement shocked the Saudis this week, just as their ruling shocked Hamas. Formally, they have long called for the publication of the confidential documents in the matter, and vehemently deny any involvement in the twin attack, but there is no doubt that they would have preferred not to reopen this Pandora's box.

The classified documents, which may be revealed soon, are 28 pages held by the secret annex to the 2002 congressional report. Diego, who was visited by two hijackers. Two years after the report was written, two American investigators, members of the Sept. 11 National Investigation Commission, recorded a conversation between them and al-Tumayri. The latter denied any connection between him and the two kidnappers (Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khaled al-Midhar) or their comrades, despite phone call transcripts presented to him and allegedly contradicting his answers. Investigators, according to a report in the New York Times a few years ago, were under the impression that he was lying. Mal-Thomayri was denied a US visa in 2003, and when he tried to return to Los Angeles, he was deported back to Saudi Arabia.

Until the publication of the documents, the Saudis are not silent about the yeast, and are trying to please and appease the Biden administration, which made it clear at the outset that there will be no discounts for the Saudis when it comes to issues of terrorism and human rights.


One way to do this is vis-à-vis Israel: Although Trump's demise of the presidency has delayed or frozen the process of establishing ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia, regular meetings between representatives of the two countries continue to take place behind the scenes, on economic and security issues. The Saudis only recently published in the newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, which is owned by a member of the Saudi royal family, a prominent report on Foreign Minister Yair Lapid's visit to the United Arab Emirates at the end of June, including a picture of Lapid with the Israeli flag behind him. They continue to allow Israeli flights over their territory to the UAE and east, allow economic ties between Israelis and Saudis, and a few weeks ago even allowed their judoka to compete in the Tokyo Olympics against Israeli Raz Hershko.

The ruling by the Saudi judges, who sent dozens of Hamas members to prison, was also intended to signal to the Biden administration that even though the Trump era is over, relations between the two countries can be adjusted. Immediately after the election of Biden stressed US spokesman'll be happy to mediate between Israel and Saudi Arabia, but it will have to be done according to "American values." The Saudi move interpreted as an attempt to take into account these values.


Moreover, the judgment against Hamas militants in Saudi Arabia is of course the continued harvesting of fruits The upheaval brought about by Trump and Netanyahu's policies in the Middle East Last week was Foreign Minister Lapid's visit to Morocco, and this week it was the ruling against Hamas in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia now fears Iran no less, and perhaps more, for fear of Israel.

The attack on the Aramco field and field fields of the Saudi company Aramco in September 2019, by the Iranians or their Houthi emissaries, made it clear to the Saudis what side they were on.

The continued Iranian support for the Houthis fighting them has only reinforced this trend.

He shocked the Saudis.

President Biden // Photo: AFP,

Honors from President Raisi

Hamas, which the Saudis threw off all the stairs this week, has long since established itself as an open ally of Iran.

The organization recently pushed Saudi Arabia even further into the corner when its Yemeni representative, Mu'az Abu Shamala, met with Muhammad Ali al-Khuti, a member of the Houthi Supreme Political Council - the enemies of Saudi Arabia and its allies.

Abu Shamala presented his Houthi host with a shield of honor on behalf of the Hamas movement, as a sign of appreciation for the Houthi support for the Palestinian cause - no less than a thumbs-up in the eyes of the Saudis (courtesy of Mamari).

This week, as if to complete the picture, senior Hamas figure Musa Abu Marzouk congratulated the Taliban on his victory in Afghanistan.

Hamas also published pictures this week of a meeting between its leadership and the Taliban, with the participation of Haniyeh and Saleh Aruri, which took place after Operation Wall Guard.

From an Israeli point of view, Saudi Arabia has moved in recent years, therefore, from the status of a distinct enemy state and supports terrorism, to one that operates and integrates as a loyal company in the axis against Iran, its metastases and affiliates.


Recently, Saudi researcher and journalist Khaled al-Suleiman defined Saudi priorities as "liberating Palestine from Iran before liberating it from Israel."

Such things are of course not published without the approval of the royal house, and they reflect the winds of change in Saudi Arabia.

And Iran?

It did take over Hamas.

Last May, at the end of the military campaign waged by Hamas against Israel, Ismail Haniyeh thanked the Iranian regime for the money and weapons it had transferred to the Gaza Strip.

Last week, he visited Tehran and announced that his organization would side with Iran in any confrontation against an Israeli or American threat, as part of the "axis of resistance."

The remarks came a moment after Hezbollah's rocket attack on the Galilee and the attack on Mercer Street, an Israeli-owned ship in the Gulf of Oman.

Senior Hamas figures have visited Iran along with senior members of Islamic Jihad led by Ziad Nahala.

Haniyeh and Nahala attended the inauguration of Ibrahim Raisi, the new president of Iran, and were even honored at a meeting in the front row of the parliament hall in Tehran.

Wants to reconcile.

Ben Salman // Photo: Reuters,

The open presence of Hamas as an ally of Iran, Saudi Arabia's clear enemy, therefore stands in the background of the unprecedented ruling against the organization's members, and despite this - the golden age of US-Saudi relations, which characterized the Trump era, is not expected to return any time soon. Preserve relations, but within the limits he has set for himself, for example, Regent Muhammad bin Salman is still considered an undesirable figure in Washington, given his alleged involvement in the assassination of a Saudi journalist and an opponent of the Saudi regime, Jamal Hashukaji, at the embassy in Istanbul.

Even a semi-official meeting between Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Ben Salman, such as Netanyahu's meeting with Ben Salman in the city of Niem, is probably not practical now. There was a chance to overcome this obstacle, since in the Biden era - the United States is the one that insists on framing the issue as an obstacle. 

Source: israelhayom

All news articles on 2021-08-20

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